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Factory worker who carried out sex attacks in Nelson and Colne is jailed

AN unemployed factory worker who carried out a string of sex attacks on young boys - including victims in Nelson and Colne - has been jailed for eight years.

Victims of Charles Francis Dye, who also struck across Yorkshire, say that his convictions could help bring an end to their 30-year plus ordeal.

Dye, 53, was found guilty of 15 offences of indecent assault and eight of gross indecency with a child, involving seven boys, by a Teeside Crown Court jury.

Prosecutors said that his initial offences began when the defendant himself was a teenager in the Selby area of North Yorkshire. He tied one boy to a tree before abusing him and tried to get another four or five year old to get into bed with him.

In the late 80s and early 90s he carried out sex attacks on boys in Nelson, Colne and Leeds, including one incident where he was babysitting his victim.

Dye, now of Shakespeare Grange, Leeds, would often befriend the families of his victims, the jury was told, and offer to babysit for them.

He was also given an indefinite sexual offences prevention order, restricting any contact with young boys on his eventual release.

The court heard that Dye was given a community sentence by Selby magistrates for abusing another boy, in 1988, and three years probation for molesting another victim at York Crown Court in 2000.

Dye was only held responsible for the majority of his offending when one victim went to police in January 2012 to complain, and others then came forward.

Speaking after the case, one victim said: “It can't be underestimated how the mental effects this type of crime affects victims and I believe that no jail sentence will fully compensate me.

“But the sentence given will help hugely towards dealing with the emotional healing and give me some degree of closure.”

Another added that the abuse had ‘hung from my back, like a bag of bricks’ and praised the efforts of investigating police.

Sgt Carol Kirk, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “Dye is a predatory paedophile who targeted young children for his own sexual gratification, abusing his victims’ and their families’ trust in the worst way possible.

"He showed arrogance and contempt for what he had done right up until his trial, forcing his victims to re-live their distressing ordeals in court.”